Railway-switch-selector-operating means



April 24,1928.

. w. K. HOWE RAILWAY swnrcn ssnsc'roa oraamme'mams Filed Jan. 12. 1927 2Sheets-Sheet'l :INVENTOIR a ATTORNEY April 24, 1928. y

W. K. HOWE RAILWAY SWITCH SELECTOR OPERATING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed. Jan. 12, 1927 i n D. D 0 E 7 4. 6 W u M Z 8/ nu E mm L L \H- a BMan n 80 Fun. 5

Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

' UNITED: STATES;

wmtrnnor K. Hows; or nocnns'rnn; NEW YORK, nssrenon --'.ro GENERALRunway SIGNAL COMPANY, OFBOCHESTEB, n-nwxonx. 1

' RAILWAYsinuous-HECTOR O ERATING. MEANs.

Application filed. January 12 1927; 'SeriaI'N 'o. 1 60j679.;.

This invention relates in general to the: operation of track switchesfor railways,

,In the. operation. of track. switches. it: is; customary to. throwtheswitches either by hand or'by means of power operated ma.-

chines, such astelectrically operated. switch machines for example, andunder certain.

circumstances it is more desirable. tooperate the switch by hand,while'under other circumstances it is more desirable that the switch beoperated by machine. The various conditions and considerations underwhich the two stated methods of operation of a switch will be moredesirable, have been set forth at considerablelength in the introductoryportion of copending 'applica tion Ser. No; 155,484 filed December 17,1926, in the nameof Winthrop K; Howe and accordingly it is thoughtunnecessary to set this matter forth atlengt-h in the pres entspecification.

With the above and: other considerations in mind, it-is proposedinaccordancewith this invention to provide a combined hand operated.switch stand and switch: operator selector in a: singlecasin g; Furtherobjects of. the invention. are, to simplify the structure, decreaseethecost of production, and increase the efiiciency and length. of life, ofdevices of this character. Further? objects, purposes, andcharacteristic features of the present invention. will appear as J the:description: progresses, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, showing,.solely by ofexample, one form ofthe invention. r

In the case of application Ser; No. 155,484, the hand operated switch:stand is. in a: casing' separate fromthat of the; selector. and theswitch machine, and with such an. mrangement it is at times. difficulttoobta-in the necessary accuracyof relationqbet-ween the hand: throwmovement and the other parts. e

In the drawings Fig. 1'. is a plannview of a device conparts being:shown in section; V

Fig. 2 is asectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1,'viewedin the.direction of the arrows; and I Fig. 3 is a; schematic plan-view of thedethe: casing.

. are; properly positioned;

structed. in accordance with this invention,

vice in question',,together with. its vaiious associated parts on [atrackway,

1 Referring-to the. drawings, they device, 7

comprises acasing 1 "having a hinged; cover 2 supplied with 'a haspj 3for holding it in:

closed. position. Thisicasing is: positioned, in the form shownx'inFigs-3J0 one-sideof. track; rails. 4,,constituting a. trackway, while onthe oppos'ite side of the trackway is a; switch. machine. 5 of any usualorsuitable form, a the one shown being, an electrically operated machinecontrollable;locally, or at.

adistance, as desired. 5A power operated red- .6 connects the switch.machine to. a rod 71 whichzisslidably receivable in. the casing l whilea switch throw rod S-isconnectedto a'switch ro'dq9; which islikewiseslidably receivablein this casing. As, best seen in Fig.1,,ahand operated rod. l0ris slidably positioned in ;the casing 1, the"three rods 7,. 9', and, LO, connected respectively to theswitclnmachine; the trackswitch and to= a hand operating lever 12, arepositioned ,to lie adjacent each' ;other in Thefhand operatingalever'l;carryinga usual. weight 13 at its end,; .openates azcrank 14, throughbevel geese-15": and .16, rocking ofi .the crank 14 .reciprocatingzjthe;end L7 o axrod 18-'connecte'd.-to ai crank by means of a pin 19.The=end17 of rod l8 'isiconnected by, apin .20 toathehandoperat'e'drod10, so that rocking of the lever- 12 operates to re+ciprocate'therod 10- within: the'casing: 1.

The rods 7, '9-Jand .10.- are supplied; with notches 21,. 22 and 23,.respectively so positiOnedt-hat they can bebrought into. registry witheachother when-the rods in. question In order to'couple upthe switch rod9 with; either-omelet. the rods7'or 10, there is a coupling'fingerx24depending froma" hub, 25 which: isxslidably butnon-rotatablycarried on:a squared? shaft 26:1nounted to rotate in the casingl.

The squared shaft; 2.6 carries anoperating 7 member 27 having spacedoutstanding-ears 28ithereon as bestshown in Fig, 2iand arrangedsubstantially. a'partt, The squared shaft-=26 is operated: through: the

. member 2.7-bymeans. of aninwardly-projects ing; lug' 29 canried'onaacarnf30: fixed toa 'stub' shaf-t 31* to; Whichis keyed a collar 32having an operating rodfl33 connectedthereto, with.-:a: weight 34:-atthe endof the rod.

The operating rod 33 is held in either of its two extreme positions bymeans of latch members 35.

Bearing against the peripheryv of the cam is an arm 36 having a sleeve37 pinned to a shaft 38, the shaft 38 having pinned thereto a contactcarrier 39 biased in an upward direction, by a spring 40 against anadjustable stop 41 carried by a lug 42 on the casing 1. The shaft 33 ispivoted in a bracket 43 bolted to the casing land having a shelf 44 towhich are connected resilient contact fingers 45 and 4:6carryingcontacts 45 and 46 respectively. Thearrangement of contacts andcontact block, just described, is substantially the same as that shownin the above-referred-to pending application No. 155,48 and hence a moredetailed description is deemed unnecessary.

' Connected to the rod 7 which is operated by the switch machine, is astop member 47 arranged to butt against an adjustable stop screw 48,while the end of the rod 7 butts against an adjustable stop screw 49.This stop arrangement is used to take up the slack and springwhichnecessarily exists in a connecting rodof the length of rods 6 and7, and the'stop screws 48 and 49 are adjusted to agree with the strokeof the switch machine. This arrangement prevents the spring in the rodsfrom moving the rod 7 after the switch machine has completed its stroke,and the advantage of this will be apparent after the operation of thedevice is set forth. 7 I

The various parts of the deviceare shown in the drawings in position foroperation of the'switch pointsll by'the switch machine 5, the couplingfinger 24, as seen in Fig. 2, engaging in the notches in the rods '7 and9 to thereby connect the switch machine with the switch rod 7. In theposition referred to the arm '36 is bearing against the lower portion ofthe cam 30 and the contacts 45 46" are closed and these contacts areincluded in the circuit which energizes the switch machine 5. It willbenoted in Fig. l that several sets of contacts have been shown, andthese other contacts can be used for any desired purpose,such as theopera tion of wayside signals, for resetting purposes, and the like.

Assuming now that it is desired to operate switch points by means of thehand operated lever, the selector lever 33 is moved from the positionshown in Fig. 1 towards its opposite extreme position. Immediately onmovement of the lever 33 the high part of the cam 30 raises the arm 36to thereby lower the member 39 against the tension of spring L0 to thusseparate contact 46 from contact 45 and thereby cut off the supplyofenergy to the switch machine 5. As the movement of the lever 33continues,-the lug 29 rotates counter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2, but

has no operative effect on the operating member 27 until the lever 33has moved almost 180. As the lever 33 completes its movement, the lug 29presses against the opposite shoulder 28 on operating member 27 tothereby rock the squared rod 26 and with it the coupling finger. 2%, tocause it to assume a position in which it engages in the grooves of therods-9.and 10 to thus couple the hand operated rod 1.0 with the switchthrow rod 9. The switch points 11 can now be thrown by hand in the usualmanner by means of the lever 12. v

In the above description of the operation of this device it should benoted that the initial movement of the selector lever 33 either makes orbreaks the circuit including the contacts 45 A6, while it is only thefinal movement of this lever which causes operation of the couplingfinger 2A to reverse the coupling of the switch rod 9 from the switchmachine operated rod to the hand operated rod, or vice versa. Inchanging the coupling, as described above, if the notch 23 in handoperated rod 10, be not in line with the coupling finger, it is merelynecessary to move this rod 10 by hand until it comes into properalignment, the weight34on selector rod 33 having already biased thecoupling finger 24: to press againstthe side 'of the rod 10. Thus thelever 33 is thrown over as far as it will go, and the coupling fingerautomatically engages in thelproper notches when they are properlyaligned.

The device, as described above, furnishes l a ready means, allincludedin a singlecas ing, for connecting up a track switch to beoperated either by a power operated machine in the usual manner, orby. ahand operated means also in the usual manner, and while the arrangementof switch machine, track switch, and selector and operator casing, hasbeen shown in a particular manner in Fig. 3, it is obvious that theseparts can bear other relationships to each other without in any. mannerchanging the inventiveconcept.

The above rather specificdescription of one embodiment of the presentinvention is given solely for the purpose of illustration, and is notintended, in any manner whatsoever, in a limiting sense. Obviously theinvention can assume many different physical forms, and is susceptibleof numerous modifications, and all such forms and modifications areintended to be included within this invention, as come within thescopeof the appended claims. i

What it is desired to now claim, is V 1. In a switch operator andselector, acasing, a switch rod in the casing, a secondand a third rodin the casing, meanscomprising, a rockable finger, a' lever, and a lost.motion connection between the lever and finger, for coupling the switchrod with either of the other rods, and manually operable means in thecasing for operating one of,

said other rods.

2. In a switch operator and selector, a casing, a switch rod in thecasing, a second and a third rod in the casing, means comprising arockable finger, a lever, and a lost motion connection between the leverand finger permitting biasing the finger to either of a plurality ofcoupling positions at'will,

for coupling the switch rod with either of v the other rods, andmanually operable means in the casing for operating one of said otherrods. 7 I

3. In a switch operator and selector, a casing, a switch rod in thecasing, a second and a third rod in the casing, means for coupling theswitch rod with either of the other rods, manually operable means in theeasing for operating one of said other rods,

gle casing, a power operated rod in the casing, a manually operated rodin the casing, a swltch rod 1n the casing, means to couple the switchrod. to either of the other said rods, at will, said means including alever, acam rockable by the lever, a non-circular shaft, a lockingfingerslidable'on'the shaft,

notches 'in the rods for receiving the finger,

a drive member on the shaft having spaced 7 arms affording a lost motionengagement with the cam whereby to rock the shaft and 5. In a switchoperator and selector, a

single casing, a power operated rod in the caslng, a manualliy operablerod in the casing, a swltch ro 1n the cas1ng,means to couple the switchrod to either of the other 7 said rods, at-will, said means including alever, a cam rockable by the lever, a noncircular shaft, alocking fingerslidable onr the shaft, notches in the rods for receiving the finger, adrive member on the shaft having spaced arms affording a lost motionengagement with the cam whereby to rock the shaft and finger, aprime'mover connected to the power operated rod, power control means forthe prime mover, and an o erable connection between the power contromeans and said cam,

In testimony whereof I aflix my si nature.

,VVINTHROP K. H WE.

